Histories of the American Revolution ordinarily feature wise Founding Fathers, military heroes and, in the end at least, glorious triumph. “Scars of Independence” presents the image of a violent struggle, not between freedom-loving Americans and tyrannical British, but as more of a civil war between Americans preferring to maintain their association with Britain and those striving for independence.
This work follows the pattern of war from beginning to end. It chronicles atrocities on both sides, British attacks on cites, brutal treatment of prisoners, reprisals and other actions that inflict scars on the historical record. Resulting propaganda was exploited by both Americans and British. Readers are introduced to the stories of officers who have only been names, such as John Burgoyne and Banister Tarlton. Rarely reported campaigns, such as the American offensives against the Six Nations of the Indian confederacy are chronicled.
Author Holger Hoock, a German expert on British history, is able to approach this period free of the guiding hand of either American or British lore. He explains certain events from different perspectives than those with which I am familiar. Hoock examines the war long issue of treatment and exchange of prisoners. I had always thought of the hiring of German mercenaries as an example of British brutality, while he suggests that it was necessitated by the British constitutional ban of the day on large standing armies that required the hiring of German troops as the only way Britain could quickly raise an adequate army. Should we think of modern American coalition partners who receive large aid grants? Citizens’ loyalties could be bought by the side offering higher wages or prices for supplies. American shabby treatment of Loyalists may have been an impediment to peace as the crown fell an obligation to those subjects who were suffering for their continued loyalty, as evidenced by provisions for their protection in the peace treaty. Are we reminded of the fate of American allies left in Indochina? Loyalists were not evenly distributed, being common in New York but scarce in New Hampshire. I had heard reference to prison ships is Irish ballads about deportation to Australia, but was unaware that they were frequently used to house, in horrible conditions, prisoners of war, or were the criminal rebels.
“Scars of Independence” left me with a deeper understanding of the War that resulted in American nationhood. I now have a more sympathetic view of the British and Americans who sided with them. I would recommend other tomes for War History Network members beginning their study of the American Revolution, but this one for those seeking a greater appreciation of the forces at work in this world changing struggle.
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